Despite the name, Oathbound are not sword-core like I (and probably you) first assumed, but instead position themselves as a progressive metalcore band. With that utter betrayal of expectations out of the way, Colors in Grey is this Seattle collective’s debut long-player following a popular EP in 2024’s Until It’s Gone. Composed of guitarists Taylor Harper and Viktor Schultz, bassist Steve Schwarz, drummer Travis Morlan, and vocalist Chris Fox,1 Oathbound already have big tour plans and an established fanbase and are driven by a mission “to offer catharsis, hope and connection through music that speaks from—and to—the soul.” I cannot knock the hustle of Oathbound. I can knock their use of both the American spelling of “colors” and the British spelling of “grey.” But can I knock Colors in Grey?
I’m interested in what Oathbound believe qualifies music as “progressive.” If I were to hazard a guess from my time with Colors in Grey, big synthesizers and noodly guitar leads are the ticket, as Oathbound make ample use of both of these across the album’s half-hour runtime. Sometimes the synths accentuate riffs (“False Ideals”), and sometimes they shape the melody (“Set Adrift”); sometimes the noodling textures a chorus (“Insomniac”), and sometimes it ends a passage (“The Masks We Wear”). But as far as I’m concerned, playing At the Gates riffs between single-string chugs and synth breaks puts Oathbound more akin to Attack Attack! than any branch of the Prog Tree. With just enough hardcore barks and knuckle-dragging riffs to pass as heavy, Oathbound packaged Colors in Grey in a loud, compressed mix and stuffed it with enough Nü metal chugs (“Searching for an Answer”) and bloops (“Misunderstood”) and robo-voiced pop-hook choruses to accommodate radio.2 Think less Born of Osiris or Protest the Hero for Oathbound, and more Three Days Grace. Simply, Colors in Grey is SiriusXM bait.
Oathbound have talent, but the production and songwriting woes of Colors in Grey don’t let it shine often. Many of the aforementioned nimble guitar leads are hopelessly buried beneath louder walls of sterile, generic rhythm guitars (“Misunderstood”) or drowned by the vocals placed so far upfront it violates my personal space (“Colors in Grey”). The drums sound big and fake like only metalcore can do, and the bass guitar is an implied presence at best. Nonetheless, Colors in Grey has its moments, like the beefy Amon Amarth stomp in “Misunderstood,”3 the bendy guitar solo on “Searching for an Answer” or the major surprise of “Hold On,” which swaps between punk riffs and spacious, epic doom-worthy leads.4 But Colors in Grey is a vocally dominated record with plain bad vocals. While Fox’s screams are a bit grating with his high register and strained delivery, they’re preferable to his cleans constantly reaching for buttrock anthemics and slathered in pitch-correction, rendering them toothless, robotic, and bereft of stank. With the skill Oathbound clearly possess, they could create a truly forward-thinking record. Colors in Grey isn’t it?
Colors in Grey’s most damning quality, however, is that Oathbound built each song around its chorus while making the chorus universally its worst part. Whatever momentum or attitude Oathbound may have established on any given track evaporates at the chorus. Everything from the crushed production to the uninspired instrumentation to the insipid vocals conspires to turn these intended highlights into dull thuds. They’re superficially big but the hooks themselves are usually pretty undynamic and tuneless, not to mention hard to differentiate between each other due to their near-uniform performances. This total dedication to the chorus and to pop structuring deprives Colors in Grey’s verses, bridges and instrumentals the time to progress or develop, killing whatever progressive tendencies Oathbound have before they can take off. As a result, somehow the opening instrumental “Origins” proved to be the best track, because though it’s a basic, mostly-acoustic build-up for “Colors in Grey,” there isn’t a black hole chorus like the rest, and it lets the song build and grow.5 Chorus-centric music isn’t necessarily bad; hamstringing your song in favor of a lackluster chorus is.
I don’t fault Oathbound for their ambitions towards mainstream attention—get heard, get paid, dudes—but I do fault them for their complete lack of audacity. There’s just not a challenging idea on Colors in Grey. Everything is pristine, calculated, and impossible to connect with. Colors in Grey isn’t bad because it’s completely unenjoyable, but because it showcases a talented band hampering their potential through cliché. And that’s worse than any absence of swords could ever be.
Rating: Bad
DR: 4 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps MP3
Label: Eclipse Records
Websites: facebook.com/oathboundband | oathboundband.com
Releases Worldwide: March 3rd, 2026
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